This article sort of took shape the Monday the show ended. In the first place, I was flying back to Seattle on an Alaska Airlines MD80, which didn’t exactly put me in a positive frame of mind. Second, thanks to the ticket to the Sunday evening Gallas party Jeff Cutler gave me, I was suffering from the […]
Long, long ago in an industry far, far away (cue the heroic music), the sale of moss-covered, three-handled family gradunzels* had taken off. Now, gradunzels had been around for a long time, and they were manufactured by a dedicated group of companies, the founders and owners of which had been among the earliest users of […]
Slow connections suck. So while we wait for my 56k modem to connect at 26.4 kbs, consider this. All the dotcoms with money (typically from an egregiously successful public offering) are advertising like mad. On TV, on the sides of buses, everywhere. Why? Because there’s not much difference between Barnes&Noble.com and Amazon.com if you want […]
In the August 1999 issue of SKATE Biz (Volume 11 Number 1), I wrote about two hypothetical skateboard factory owners, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll’s production was strictly OEM. Mr. Hyde had a successful brand and built his product at his own factory. They both made a bunch of perfectly logical and rational […]
I do confess it. I was trained as a finance guy. I have an MBA, started out in international banking (Ask me about Carnival in Brazil sometime!), and did some corporate treasury and investment banking kind of work. Given the way things have changed, I decided it was okay to come out of the closet. Please don’t throw me […]
Most of us are in a different business than we were a few years ago. Retailer, brand, manufacturer, or even consultant, our customers have changed. There are only a handful of companies out there that can say they are snowboard companies. Others have adjusted their strategies, or aren’t around anymore. Remember the “C” word? Consolidation wasn’t just about a […]
I spent three days walking and talking. I suffered through the usual distraction and traffic jam at the Reef booth (why is it that no matter which way you try and go, you end up there?). In no particular order, I noted the following things: No major new products Snowboarders trying to do skate tricks in […]
It must suck to be the only public, pure snowboard company left standing. All the other snowboard brands are suffering from some of the same industry issues as Ride, but they can equivocate about it with impunity. But Ride’s management wouldn’t want to do that anyway. Like the title says, there’s good news […]
There’s got a way to make this story exciting. Oh the injustice of making me write about a company with a strong balance sheet, growing revenue and earnings, no meaningful litigation, and an experienced management team with a clear strategic focus. I’ve got to stir up some drama somewhere if there’s to be any hope that people […]
There are sixty million kids people in the United States between the ages of 5 and 20. Over half of them haven’t entered adolescence yet. It’s the biggest demographic bulge since the baby boomers. Every large, mainstream company in this country from Levis, to JC Penney to Fidelity Mutual Funds needs credibility and brand recognition with […]
